A Little Magic(58)

The thin beam made her sigh with relief, then her breath caught again at what stood in the line of that light.

Her own face, her own body, made fanciful with wings. Did he see her that way? Clever and confident and lovely?

“I feel that way. For the first time in my life, I feel that way.”

Slowly, she shut the light off, set it aside. She knew where he’d gone, and understood, somehow that she was meant to find her own way there, as he had, in the dark.

The world went wild as she walked, as wild as the day she had come to this place. The ground shook, and the sky split, and the sea roared like a dragon.

Instead of fear, all she felt was the thrill of being part of it. This day wouldn’t pass into night without her. Closing her hand over the star between her breasts, she followed the route that was clear as a map in her head.

Steep and rough was the path that cut through rock, and slippery with wet. But she never hesitated, never faltered. The stones loomed above, giants dancing in the tempest. In its heart, the Midsummer fire burned, bright and gold, despite the driving rain.

And facing it, the shadow that was a man.

Her heart, as she’d been told, knew.

“Conal.”

He turned to her. His eyes were fierce as if whatever wild was in the night pranced in him as well. “Allena.”

“No, I’ve something to say.” She walked forward, unhurried though the air trembled. “There’s always a choice, Conal, always another direction. Do you think I’d want you without your heart? Do you think I’d hold you with this?”

In a violent move she pulled the pendant from around her neck and threw it.

“No!” He grabbed for it, but the star only brushed his fingertips before it landed inside the circle. “Can you cast it off so easily? And me with it?”

“If I have to. I can go, make a life without you, and part of me will always grieve. Or I can stay, make a home with you, bear your children, and love you for everything you are. Those are my choices. You have yours.”

She held out her arms. “There’s nothing but me here to hold you. There never was.”

Emotions tumbled through him, end over end. “Twice I’ve let the people I loved go without telling them. Even when I came here tonight I thought I might do so again.”

He pushed dripping hair away from his face. “I’m a moody man, Allena.”

“So you told me once before. I never would have known it otherwise.”

His breath came out in a half laugh. “You’d slap at me at such a time?” He took a step toward her. “You painted the shutters.”

“So what?”

“I’ll make you pots in dark blue, to fill with your flowers.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you.”

She opened her mouth, closed it again, took a careful breath. “Because I painted the shutters?”

“Yes. Because you would think to. Because you mended my mother’s curtains. Because you pick berries. Because you swim naked in the sea. Because you look at me and see who I am. Whatever brought you here, brought us here, doesn’t matter. What I feel for you is all there is. Please, God, don’t leave me.”

“Conal.” The storm, inside her and around her, quieted. “You only have to ask.”

“They say there’s magic here, but it’s you who brought it. Would you take me, Allena?” He reached for her hand, clasped it. “And give yourself to me. Make that home and that life and those children with me. I pledge to you I’ll love you, and I’ll treasure you, ever hour of every day.” He lifted her hand, pressed his lips to it. “I’d lost something, and you brought it back to me. You’ve brought me my heart.”

So, she thought, he’d found the key after all. “I’ll take you, Conal, and give myself to you.” Her eyes were dry and clear and steady. “And everything we make, we’ll make together. I promise to love you now and ever after.”

As she wrapped her arms around him, the mists cleared. In the dark sea of the sky a star began to pulse. The fire shimmered down to a pool of gold flame, tipped red as ruby. The air went sharp and cool so the stones stood out like a carving in glass.

And they sang in whispers.

“Do you hear it?” Allena murmured.

“Yes. There.” He turned her, held her close to his side as the shimmering beam from the midsummer star shot through the stones and like an arrow pinned its light to its mate on the ground.

The pendant burst blue, a clean fire, star-shaped and brilliant. While star joined star, the circle was the world, full of light and sound and power.

Then the longest day passed, slipping into the shortest night. The light rippled, softened, faded. The stones sighed to silence.